A native of Lebanon County, Bowman spent much of his professional life outside of the county before returning home seven years ago to lead the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

His last day as president and CEO of the chamber will be Aug. 1.

"We have four months ahead of us yet and a lot to get accomplished," said Bowman, 66. "I know that time will go fast. In some ways, it's a long time, and in other ways, it's going to go in a hurry."

A native of the Sand Hill area of North Lebanon Township, Bowman earned a bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College. After college, he moved to Philadelphia and soon embarked on a 37-year career in various chambers of commerce in New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Larry Bowman, president and CEO of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce at his computer in his office at 604 Cumberland St., Lebanon. The Chamber is searching for a successor to Bowman, who plans to retire in August. (Earl Brightbill — Lebanon Daily News)

Prior to returning to Lebanon, he served as president of the Exton Region Chamber of Commerce in Chester County, where he helped double the chamber's membership during his four years with the organization. He also held leadership positions at chambers in Wayne, Pa.; Auburn, N.Y.; Wilmington, Del.; Elmira, N.Y.; and Schenectady, N.Y.

He received the prestigious Keystone Award by PACP in the fall of 2012 and is just the 22nd person to receive the award since it was established nearly 50 years ago to recognize outstanding service in and contributions to the chamber profession in Pennsylvania.

Prior to returning to Lebanon County in 2007, Bowman said he hadn't really given much thought to moving back. He still had family here, and he and his wife, Kathy Wall, visited the area regularly.

Advertisement

"We had bought a small cottage in Mt. Gretna that we had for weekends, and my wife loved Mt. Gretna, knew Lebanon County, so it didn't really take long for me to reach the decision, with my wife's blessing, to apply for the job here at the Chamber," he said.

Bowman counted several significant accomplishments since taking over. One of them is having the Chamber taking on more of a leadership role in the community.

"The Chamber had a pretty good image in the community, but we were pretty heavily weighted toward doing programs and events and spending a lot of time and resources on those types of things, and we were not as heavily engaged in issues and the community as we should be," he said.

Bowman said there are a lot of things on the Chamber's plate that he wants to complete before Aug. 1. Among them are annual programs and other projects that were already in motion prior to his announcing his retirement.

"We'll have a full plate right through the end of July," he said

Bowman, who lives with his wife in Mt. Gretna, said he does not have any specific plans for retirement. He has been contacted about doing some consulting work and sitting on some non-profit boards but said he has not made any decisions yet.

"Those are all things that are of interest to me, I'm just not sure we're going to commit to all of those right now," he said. "Between volunteer work and some hobbies that have been on the sideline for quite a while, maybe a little more travel and just some down time, I think the schedule is going to fill up pretty quickly."

There is no word on Bowman's successor. The search process began in late March.